Complaint Review: Homecomings Financial

Not jumping on you, Julie. You seem to want to help, but you present as an "all-knowing" figure concerning this issue when you are not. Your laws do not apply in this venue. Common sense does not apply, either. Mortgage servicing is the Twilight Zone of the financial sector.

You just do not seem to understand that mortgage servicers are UNREGULATED. They are NOT banks. They do not fall under laws regarding predatory lending. There are NO laws to protect borrowers from mortgage servicers in place today. They laugh at RESPA, TILA, and other laws because they can.

A battalion of lawyers will be of no value if the servicer doesn't decide it wants to help. There is no legal mechanism to force the issue, only, ha, ha "Best Practices" guidelines which are unenforceable legally.

Reinstatement is quite often impossible even WITH legal representation. People send thousands of extra dollars to these companies which apply them in ways that are questionable. They get foreclosed on anyway, because the servicer is not bound by any law to apply them to the mortgage balance at all. They apply them to "fees" or put them in the ever popular "suspense" fund which routinely vanishes mysteriously while the account balance grows ever bigger.

Government agencies keep fining the companies, but they don't shut them down. There is too much money going into campaign chests. The fines are laughable, and do nothing to help the displaced homeless. These companies get sued over and over again. They admit no wrong-doing, pay off to settle and hide the dirt, and continue steamrolling borrowers.

These companies are not going away just because you think they will or should. If that were the case, many of them would vanish today.

Homecomings Financial is a known abusive predatory servicer. No libel involved there. I just posted legal documents saying as much from the West Virginia AG. Candace can expect some dirty tricks to be pulled by them.

Judging from her panicked post, I can imagine that she has already been subjected to some dirty dealings. Trying your suggestions will waste precious time.

Candace needs to try to get a payoff figure ASAP and see if she can sell the home before the foreclosure date.

Mortgage servicers have been known to stall for weeks sending payoffs (or never send them at all), and Candace does not have weeks to spare. She may get an attorney to request a payoff for her, but servicers will also stonewall attorneys. With no legal clout to force the issue, most attorneys will throw up their hands and say "Sorry". Servicers do not fear lawyers; all the very best ones are on their payrolls.

If the original appraisal was wildly inflated (and many are), Candace may find it impossible to gain enough from the sale to do a payoff. Hopefully, that will not be the case here.

Your advice would be beneficial in some areas, Julie, but not in this one. You seem bent on sending people on snipe hunts for some reason, which has led many here to believe you work for a servicer or a bank.

You distract them from the real truth which is that they can expect no help whatsoever from lawyers, the courts, or the government. At this time, unfortunately, the best thing to do is bail if possible.

Not jumping on you, Julie. You seem to want to help, but you present as an "all-knowing" figure concerning this issue when you are not. Your laws do not apply in this venue. Common sense does not apply, either. Mortgage servicing is the Twilight Zone of the financial sector.

You just do not seem to understand that mortgage servicers are UNREGULATED. They are NOT banks. They do not fall under laws regarding predatory lending. There are NO laws to protect borrowers from mortgage servicers in place today. They laugh at RESPA, TILA, and other laws because they can.

A battalion of lawyers will be of no value if the servicer doesn't decide it wants to help. There is no legal mechanism to force the issue, only, ha, ha "Best Practices" guidelines which are unenforceable legally.

Reinstatement is quite often impossible even WITH legal representation. People send thousands of extra dollars to these companies which apply them in ways that are questionable. They get foreclosed on anyway, because the servicer is not bound by any law to apply them to the mortgage balance at all. They apply them to "fees" or put them in the ever popular "suspense" fund which routinely vanishes mysteriously while the account balance grows ever bigger.

Government agencies keep fining the companies, but they don't shut them down. There is too much money going into campaign chests. The fines are laughable, and do nothing to help the displaced homeless. These companies get sued over and over again. They admit no wrong-doing, pay off to settle and hide the dirt, and continue steamrolling borrowers.

These companies are not going away just because you think they will or should. If that were the case, many of them would vanish today.

Homecomings Financial is a known abusive predatory servicer. No libel involved there. I just posted legal documents saying as much from the West Virginia AG. Candace can expect some dirty tricks to be pulled by them.

Judging from her panicked post, I can imagine that she has already been subjected to some dirty dealings. Trying your suggestions will waste precious time.

Candace needs to try to get a payoff figure ASAP and see if she can sell the home before the foreclosure date.

Mortgage servicers have been known to stall for weeks sending payoffs (or never send them at all), and Candace does not have weeks to spare. She may get an attorney to request a payoff for her, but servicers will also stonewall attorneys. With no legal clout to force the issue, most attorneys will throw up their hands and say "Sorry". Servicers do not fear lawyers; all the very best ones are on their payrolls.

If the original appraisal was wildly inflated (and many are), Candace may find it impossible to gain enough from the sale to do a payoff. Hopefully, that will not be the case here.

Your advice would be beneficial in some areas, Julie, but not in this one. You seem bent on sending people on snipe hunts for some reason, which has led many here to believe you work for a servicer or a bank.

You distract them from the real truth which is that they can expect no help whatsoever from lawyers, the courts, or the government. At this time, unfortunately, the best thing to do is bail if possible.

Homecomings Financial appreciates the time you have taken to express concerns regarding the status of your mortgage. We understand that you may be facing challenges in your own life, as unforeseen obstacles might have affected you financially. Please know we want to partner with you to reach a mutually beneficial solution. As such, we encourage you to contact Homecomings Financial at the address below to receive more information regarding the custom solutions we can offer you.

Homecomings Financial
P.O. Box 890036
Dallas, TX 75389
Attention: Priority Correspondence

Your correspondence will be prioritized for special handling, and we will respond as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you.

I was talking to Candace. I asked Candace some simple questions and gave her some valid advice. She hasn't given us enough information for anyone to determine what is going on in her case. You on the other hand assume predatory servicing and jump on me. Stop, that is not productive. She might be a victim of predatory servicing, she might have a simple payment dispute that with direction, could clear everything up. Let Candace speak before you jump me.

All I did was basically ask what was going on. It isn't at all that I don't believe their is predatory servicing (or simply servicers that make God awful lot of mistakes). The goal here is to HELP people, not slander companies.

If they are bad companies, you can rest assured something will happen. A lot of the people that post rip off reports aren't being ripped off, they just have a problem, and they need help. But most don't have a law suit.

Candace may or may not, but we won't know if she isn't allowed to speak and all you do is trash me.

Julie, Julie, Julie,

Still a non-believer, I see. Still thinking that banks and mortgage servicers are kind and benevolent and borrowers are...what..liars...nuts...crackpots?

We have tried to tell you that predatory mortgage servicing is real, and yet you refuse to see. Maybe this will help.

Check this out (notice the use of the terms "predatory lending practices" and "mortgage servicing abuses"):

June 9, 2005


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Norman Googel
304-558-8986



ATTORNEY GENERAL DARRELL McGRAW ENTERS INTO
LANDMARK SETTLEMENTS WITH TWO SUBPRIME MORTGAGE SERVICERS, FAIRBANKS CAPITAL CORP. AND HOMECOMINGS FINANCIAL NETWORK


Attorney General Darrell McGraw announced today that his office has entered into landmark settlements with two subprime mortgage servicing companies, Select Portfolio Servicing, Inc., formerly known as Fairbanks Capital Corp. (Fairbanks), of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Homecomings Financial Network, Inc. of Dallas, Texas. Together the settlements netted $773,000 in restitution, account credits and refunds for approximately 2,300 West Virginia consumers. In addition, the two companies canceled nearly $11 million in debt allegedly owed by 267 West Virginia families who lost their homes through questionable foreclosures.

The companies also agreed to remove all negative information from the credit records of the 2,300 of West Virginia consumers who had been charged unlawful fees from January 1999 to the present, and to totally clear the credit records of all the West Virginia consumers who lost their homes to foreclosures during this period.

Attorney General McGraw's office began investigating the companies in late 2002 after embarking upon a public educational campaign to combat predatory lending practices and mortgage servicing abuses that were resulting in wrongful foreclosures of homes owned by West Virginia consumers. Although mortgage servicers merely collect accounts, and do not loan money to consumers, the servicers are the only companies that have direct contact with consumers. In addition, abuses by servicers may harm consumers and may lead to foreclosure even when the consumer is able to pay the underlying loan.

The alleged practices by Fairbanks and Homecomings that prompted the investigation by McGraw's office focused on the assessment of a wide range of unlawful charges to consumers' accounts, including excess late fees, property preservation and inspection fees, corporate advance fees and broker price opinion fees. The companies routinely returned payments that were less than amounts allegedly owed rather than crediting payments to accounts, a practice that intimidated consumers and increased the likelihood of foreclosure. Once foreclosure proceedings were commenced, the companies also charged consumers' accounts hefty lawyers' fees and required the consumers to pay the fees to avoid the foreclosure, a practice that violates West Virginia law.

Attorney General McGraw determined that the companies' past practices led to premature and unwarranted foreclosures of consumers' homes. The actions that the companies agreed to take in these settlements will enable hundreds of West Virginia consumers to qualify for credit that otherwise may have been denied because of the past practices of these companies.

Attorney General McGraw stated, Although too many consumers have already lost their homes as a result of predatory lending and unfair mortgage servicing practices, the agreements with Fairbanks and Homecomings mark a turning point and will result in the elimination of the major abuses that occurred in the past. I commend Fairbanks and Homecomings for reaching these agreements with our office and for taking these important steps to remedy past concerns and to protect consumers in the future.

Any persons wishing to file a complaint about a consumer matter or to alert the Attorney General about unfair or deceptive practices may do so by calling the Consumer Protection Hot Line, 1-800-368-8808, or by downloading a
complaint form from this site. (Complaint Form)

Because if you are behind, and you paid them but didn't pay enough to reinstate, then they can still f/c. If you did pay them enough to reinstate, then you have a legitimate complaint. Call the local bar association, they can refer you to a good real estate/mortgage attorney that can help you! In addition, if you didn't fully reinstate, you might also want to contact a housing counselor. Many of these are not for profit (free) and can work as a negotiator between you and your mortgage company to work out a plan to help you get caught up!

Good luck!

My home is set to be sold by this company in July. I have paid and paid them money and gotten nowhere. please help ! I can't find a lawyer I can afford I am paying all my money to homecomings tring to keep my home.Please let me know today. Thank You.